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Cuba Leaves Castro Era With Slim Prospects for Change

Six decades of Castro rule will end this week, ‘but we feel everything will be the same,’ residents say

By

José de Córdoba

April 17, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET

HAVANA—Raúl Castro is set to step down as Cuba’s president this week, marking the first time in 59 years that a Castro brother won’t be officially in charge of Cuba.

But few people in this rundown capital city are expecting much change. Cuba’s communist leaders are dedicated to maintaining their one-party system and reasserting state control of the economy after a brief surge in private enterprise fueled by the restart of diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 2015.

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